Richard Roberts

Richard H. Roberts (born 1957) is an American former pharmaceutical executive, philanthropist, and Republican donor.

Biography Born in a secular Jewish family Philadelphia in 1957 and raised in Abington Township, Pennsylvania, the son of Albert Roberts. His father, a chemist, started URL Pharma in 1946 which manufactured steroidal hormones that treated pain by collecting pig pituitary glands from slaughterhouses. and gave URL Pharma a three-year marketing exclusivity agreement in exchange for URL Pharma doing 17 new studies and investing $100 million into the product (of which $45 million went to the FDA for the application fee). URL Pharma subsequently raised the price from $0.09 per tablet to $4.85; and in October 2010, the FDA removed the older unapproved colchicine (in both in oral and intravenous forms) from the market (although they allowed pharmacies the opportunity to buy up the older unapproved colchicine). Roberts indicated that the price increase mirrored other approved and branded drugs that were used to treat gout pain. URL Pharma returned to profitability

Political activism

Roberts is a top donor to Republican politicians including Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, In 2010, he gave $750,000 to the campaign of Mitt Romney. In 2012, Roberts contributed $1 million to a super PAC that supported U.S. Representative Allen West.

A pro-Israel donor, Roberts served at the Israel Advisory Committee of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Personal life Roberts is married with six children and lives in Lakewood, New Jersey.